Aquatic animal models have played important roles in advancing our understanding of the origins of human disease and have contributed to the study and identification of drug targets and tests associated with the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease. In many cases, the best choice for an animal model of human disease is aquatic; the most-widely known is zebra fish but the community of investigators using aquatic animal models is growing and producing a wide-range of innovative studies, methods and technologies to improve the tools to study the complexity of human disease. The Aquatic Animal Models for Human Disease Conference is the primary conference that does not simply focus on one aquatic species or one disease but rather, is uniquely compared to any other conference or venue, provides a forum for the entire breadth of investigator's approaches using a wide collection of aquatic models to attack the complexity of a large spectrum of human disease. The 6th conference in this series that seeks to bring together researchers from the U.S. and around the world that employ aquatic animal models in their studies of human diseases will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Midwest Zebrafish Conference is an annual gathering of scientists and researchers who focus on the use of zebrafish in their basic biological and biomedical research. These two conferences will be held jointly such that investigators using different models and employing different approaches can engage in dialog and exchange ideas. The program has been designed by recognized leaders in the field to provide state-of-the-art information on advances in the use of aquatic animals in biomedical research and the technologies employed. New investigators, women, investigators with disabilities and under-represented minorities will be actively recruited to participate in this meeting through mechanisms such as travel awards. The proceedings from past meetings have been published in special issues of a scientific journal and this will be continued with complementary mechanisms for dissemination. One outcome of these gatherings and this meeting in particular, is to provide new investigators with the ideas, background and mentoring required for improving the quality if not quantity of grant applications submitted to multiple NIH institutes.